It was hot as blazes in Melbourne yesterday. The on court temperature was in the 100's Farenheit. But the roof remained open on Laver and the luminaries of the tennis world took the court to do their job. Not everyone can handle the heat and Marion Bartoli was visibly affected by the sauna like conditions. I'm not sure that even if the conditions had been different she would've overcome Vera Zvonareva. She did play out her match though.
Not the same can be said for the ATP #3 Novak Djokovic. After a competitive first set which Djokovic won Brad Gilbert of ESPN said that it appeared that Novak had hit a wall. Of course I said "yeah, right," since Novak has appeared to be on his last leg and miraculously recovered. Ask Richard Gasquet about 2008 Estoril or Gael Monfils about the US Open a few years back. You can imagine my surprise when I looked up to see Novak packing his bags. It took a few seconds for what I was seeing to sink in. The defending Australian Open champion had said "no mas". This is not the first time this has happened. There was that Davis Cup match where he simply walked off the court. Last year a sore throat caused him to abandon a match against Roger Federer. Many felt that he would not repeat as champion here but no one expected him to simply walk off the court.
There's an old expression that goes like this: "If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen." I therefore offer you
The Tennis Kitchen
Juan Martin Del Potro is a growing boy. He ate two bagels that were served up by this man.
Chef Roger looks pleased as punch to have been able to please his public.
Vera added Russian flair to her bagel and served it up with power to spare.
Dinara declined to eat the vegemite the Aussie crowd offered her and instead served up a dish of her own making.
Jelena, while disappointed, is looking forward to reacquainting the tour with all aspects of Australian cuisine.
This pair created their own cuisine - Hantuyama. It's a combination of Slovakian and Japanese food. Cara Black and Liezel Huber didn't seem to digest it well.
Once again Novak served up the chefs surprise.
Andy enjoyed the surprise dish so much he was overcome with emotion.
It promises to be very hot again Wednesday in Melbourne. Let's see what our chefs have to offer us this go around.
2 comments:
Novak needs to suck it up and stop being such a bloody girl! He wants to hang around Europe until the new year and not try and condition himself for the Aussie summer then he has only himself to blame. He reminds me a hell of a lot of JJ actually so thank god they're finally gone! I'm really loving the new Vera :)
I believe Monfils has had 7-8 retirements also--all while losing.
Yes, Novak needs to condition himself.
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